Three watches for a Father’s Day gift

It’s Father’s Day this Sunday! What do you mean you forgot? You’re a terrible child? I see. OK, there’s still time! Stop reading this and head to the shops ASAP!

In all honesty, I totally forgot it was Father’s Day, and it was a professional (ha!) dereliction of duty on my part not to make the previous column about gift ideas, but lately my mind has been distracted by self-improvement.

Long-time readers will know that I can’t swim (or drive, or ride a bike properly) and I’ve grown tired of being told I’m missing out on splashy water-based fun (and cars, and I guess bikes?), so I’m doing some­thing about it. Yes, I’ve finally taken the plunge on swimming lessons. And let me tell you, after only two lessons, I’m a water baby. Apparently I have lots of natural ballast. Which I took as a compliment, because it is. I think.

Anyway, I’ll keep you updated on my journey to becoming the next Eric the Eel but for now we’ll return to watches and three timepieces that caught my eye in the past month or so. They might even make a suitable eleventh hour, or extremely late, Father’s Day gift.

We’ll start with the more accessibly priced Spinnaker Bradner, which comes with an all new steel “bead of rice” bracelet. A snip at HK$2,900 (US$370), the Bradner is another winner from a brand that has, of late, been mining the rich seam of watchmaking heritage for its design cues and then adding modern accents.

“Bead of rice” is the name given to the tight link construction of the bracelet, which was more commonplace in the 1950s and 60s, and the addition here ups the retro factor but is also, lest we forget, a much better option for the summer compared with the sweat-hating leather strap. Another consideration for the swimmers out there – and that sorta, kinda includes me now – is that the Bradner is a dive watch, with up to 180 metres of water resistance, so the steel bracelet is handy.